By Chris Parker
Uncertainty has been about the only guarantee for area schools and athletic programs over the past five months in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The uncertainty of how long the fall sports season will last has many area athletic programs moving senior nights up to the beginning of the season instead of the traditional final home game of the year.
Republic will have all of its senior nights for fall sports from Sept. 1-8 with football senior night happening on Sept. 4.
“Really this was a no brainer for us. We realize there is so much uncertainty with the upcoming school year so we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to be able to celebrate the careers and accomplishments of our senior student athletes. By moving them up in the calendar this allows us to do so,” Republic Athletic Director Trevyor Fisher said via e-mail. “Senior nights are important to many different groups of people involved in athletics and activities. First of all, you have the athlete themselves. All the hard work and sweat and tears they have put in throughout their career deserves a proper send off and finality for them. But also, you have parents that have invested so much time and effort into their kids. It allows them to have closure and to celebrate everything their son or daughter has achieved in high school athletics.”
Camdenton football will have their senior night the earliest chance they can get at the first home game against Parkview on Sept. 11.
“I can speak for here and here only. Most of these kids grow up here. I know from experience, although I am an old guy now, that one of few things I wanted to do from the time I was six years old to high school was to get to play football,” Shore said. “One of their big things in life is getting to play Laker football. To get the chance to at least celebrate them (seniors) and to make sure you get that in is very important.”
Cassville softball, which has just one senior on the roster, is also planning an early senior night. Cassville softball head coach Lori Videmschek knows firsthand what it is like for athletes to lose a season, and for seniors not to get the chance for to play their final home game after Purdy softball, where she is also the head coach, lost their spring season.
“Last (spring) at Purdy we had our season canceled. We had two seniors, and that was the toughest thing that I had to go through as a coach to tell them we don’t have a season. We are done. To see the disappointment and heartbreak for those seniors, that was tough,” Videmschek said. “They didn’t get to play the last game on the field. For me, I want to be able to celebrate that with Kyren (Postlewait) and have Kyren be recognized. That is important for those seniors who spend all the time and all those years on the field to just recognize them for all the accomplishments they have done.”
